28. SAINT CHAD, BISHOP OF LICHFIELD AND MARYTR-PRINCES WULFAD AND RUFINUS OF MERCIA

Our holy Father Chad (Ceodde) was born at the end of the sixth century in Northumberland. He was a disciple of St. Aidan of Lindisfarne. After a period in Ireland spent in asceticism, he was appointed Abbot of Lastingham in Yorkshire in succession to his brother, St. Cedd.

In 664, Bishop Tuda of York died of the plague, and it fell to King Oswy of Northumbria and his son, the Sub-King Alchfrid, to appoint a successor. His choice fell on St. Wilfrid, Abbot of Ripon, who was sent to France to be consecrated to the episcopate. However, since St. Wilfrid was away for a long time, King Oswy sent to Canterbury for consecration Chad, «a holy man,» as the Venerable Bede writes, «modest in all his ways, learned in the Scriptures, and careful to practise all that he found in them. With Chad the king sent a priest named Eadhaed, who later, during the reign of Egfrid, became Bishop of Ripon. On arriving in Kent, they found that Archbishop Deusdedit had died, and that no successor had been appointed. They therefore went on to the province of the West Saxons, consecrated Chad as bishop [in 666] with the assistance of two bishops of the British, who [kept] Pascha contrary to canonical practice between the fourteenth and twentieth days of the moon. For at that time, Wini [Bishop of the West Saxons] was the only bishop in all Britain who had been canonically consecrated.

«When he became bishop, Chad immediately devoted himself to maintaining the truth and purity of the Church, and set himself to practise humility and continence and to study. After the example of the Apostles, he travelled on foot and not on horseback when he went to preach the Gospel.; for he was one of Aidan's disciples and always sought to instruct his people by the same methods as Aidan and his own brother Cedd.»

In May, 669 St. Theodore «the Greek» arrived at his see in Canterbury. He told St. Chad that he considered his Episcopal consecration to be uncanonical, to which the saint humbly replied: «If you know that my consecration as bishop was irregular, then I willingly resign the office; for I have never thought myself worthy of it. Although unworthy, I accepted it solely under obedience.» Impressed by this reply, St. Theodore assured him that he would not have to give up his office, and himself corrected his consecration. St. Chad then returned to his monastery in Lastingham.

«The Mercians at this time were ruled by King Wulfhere, who, on the death of [Bishop] Jaruman, asked Theodore to provide him and his people with a bishop. Theodore, however, did not wish to consecrate a new bishop for them, but asked King Oswy to give them Chad as their bishop. Chad was then living quietly in his monastery at Lastingham, while Wilfrid ruled the bishopric of York, and indeed all the lands of the Northumbrians and Picts to the borders of Oswy's realm. The most reverend Bishop Chad always preferred to undertake his preaching missions on foot rather than on horseback; but Theodore ordered him to ride whenever he undertook a long journey. He was most reluctant to forgo this pious exercise which he loved, but the Archbishop, who recognized his outstanding holiness and considered it more proper for him to ride, himself insisted on helping him to mount his horse. So Chad received the Bishopric of the Mercians and the people of Lindsey, and administered the diocese in great holiness of life after the example of the Early Fathers.»

«At this time Wulfhere, son of the renowned king, Penda the Strenuous, ruled over the Mercians, and had been hailed as Bretwalda of all the Angles and Saxons. He had espoused the beautiful Ermenhilda, a daughter of the royal house of Kent, and descended from the noblest stock of the Franks. Though fair in form and lineage, she was accounted fairer still in faith and sanctity. In due time, she bore to the king four fair children: three sons, Wulfhad, Rufinus and Coenred, and one daughter, the beauteous Werburga. The boys are said to have been adorned with all the princely graces and to have excelled in all the manly exercises suited to their rank. The courtesy of their demeanour, the prudence of their conduct, and the wit of their conversation endeared them to their father's subjects, both rich and poor.

«Their father, King Wulfhere, had been baptized many years before by the holy Bishop Finan of the nation of the Scots; and at the font, and afterwards when he led his bride to the altar, he made a vow to the Lord that he would utterly destroy the temples of the demons, and root out the idols from his realm, and extend, as far as he should be able, the faith of Jesus Christ. But when he inherited the throne of his fathers, he forgot to perform the vow which he had made, and idolatry still lingered in the kingdom of the Mercians. In this wickedness the king was countenanced by one Werbode, whom he had made his chief counsellor and friend, such as Haman the Agagite was to King Artaxerxes. They say that he was an idolater, a man of Belial, a very minister and satellite of Satan; that he was crafty in heart, wily in tongue, wanton in appetite, and arrogant in mind. Not content with the favours which the king had already bestowed upon him, he even dared in his heart to think of wooing the lovely Werburga, well knowing that she was dedicated to Christ, hoping, in his madness, thereby to succeed to the kingdom.

«The king, not heeding, consented to Werbodés suit, but Queen Ermenhilda sharply rebuked him for his presumption and reproached him with his base lineage. And Werburga herself, as befitted a maiden who was soon to take the veil, bade him think no more of her as his bride, but rather to seek for God's forgiveness for having conceived such a thought in his heart. Her brothers, Wulfhad and Rufinus, in more impetuous mood, threatened him with their sorest vengeance, if ever he should prefer his low-born suit to their sister. The disdainful words of these royal youths rankled in the evil mind of Werbode, and one day cost them dear, albeit, through the teaching of the holy Chad, they were to earn the crown of martyrdom, as this story showeth. For it fell upon a day, as the holy man was engaged in devout prayer and meditation in his cell, that a hart of great size and wide-spreading antlers burst forth from the forest glades into the open space which surrounded the fountain. His panting breath and quivering limbs told that the huntsman was on his track, and to slake his raging thirst, he began to drink eagerly of the cooling waters. Pitying the distress of the noble animal and moved with the bowels of compassion towards all the creatures of God, Chad covered him with the boughs and leaves of trees, to refresh him with their coolness and to conceal him from his foes, for in his inward mind he believed something wonderful would happen by means of the hart. And when the animal was somewhat recovered, it meekly suffered the holy man to put a cord round its neck, and then it wandered into the forest to crop the grass.

«Hardly had the saint recovered from the surprise occasioned by the appearance of the hart, than the blast of a horn fell upon his ear, and soon a handsome youth, in gay apparel, reined in his steed in front of the cell, whither the footprints of the hart had guided him. This was no other than Wulfhad, the king's eldest son, who had been following the chase – to which, as became one of royal lineage, he was much addicted – and, in the eagerness of his pursuit, had lost sight of his retainers.

«On seeing the holy man, who at the sound of the horsés footsteps had come out of his cell, the prince courteously and reverently saluted him, and enquired whether he had seen the hart of which he had been in quest since the early dawn. To whom the saint replied, «Am I the keeper of the hart? I do not tend or guard the beasts of the forest, or the cattle of the field, or the birds of the air, but, through the ministry of the hart, have become the guide of thy salvation. For God, Who prepared the hart, hath made know to thee the hidden things of His own mysteries, that thou mayest believe in His name, and be baptized for the remission of sins. By a beautiful foreshadowing, nay, by the witness of a sure prophecy, the hart bathed in the fountain sets forth and shows to thee beforehand the laver of wholesome Baptism, even as thouh mayest learn the mind of David from the text, »As the hart panteth after the fountains of water, so panteth my soul after Thee, O God. My soul thirsted for God, the mighty, the living; when shall I come and appear before the face of God?» (Psalm 41.1–2)